Police Officer Placed on ³Non-Contact² Status after Drawing Gun

[Earl Evleth]

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D.C. Police Officer Placed on �Non-Contact� Status after Drawing Gun

Watch FOX5 Video Report

WASHINGTON - A veteran D.C. police officer is under investigation. Witnesses
say he pulled his gun out after someone hit his vehicle with snowballs.

It happened at the intersection of 14th and U Streets on Saturday afternoon.
A group of twenty-somethings was pelting each other with snowballs.

An amateur photographer captured still pictures of what happened. Several
videos are also posted on YouTube. The officer can be seen holding a gun.
Witnesses tell FOX 5 someone called 9-1-1 after they saw the driver pull out
a gun. It was only after a uniformed officer arrived that they discovered
the driver was an off-duty police officer.

At one point on the videos the man identifies himself as Detective Baylor.
When someone in the crowd asked if he pulled a gun during the snow fight he
replied he did because he was hit with snowballs.

D.C. Mayor Adrian Fenty told FOX 5 the officer involved is on "non-contact"
status while internal affairs investigates.

The snowball fight was organized on Twitter, and the incident was widely
discussed on the social networking site.